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Turing Report – Spain

On Monday 20th June, 10 students and 2 staff set out for a week’s residential trip to Barcelona. We met the other pupils from the other schools in Matrix Academy Trust at the airport, just before checking in. For some of the pupils, it was their first-time experiencing flying, but all of the pupils fully committed themselves to the experience, a trait which was repeated throughout the week.

When we arrived at Barcelona airport, we met our bus and then went to our home for the week, the Urbany Hostel. After a quick meal at Glories, the local shopping centre, we went to bed to get an early night ready for the busy week ahead.

On the next day, we braved the Barcelona Metro for the first time, which was our main mode of transport for the week. We visited a few different sites around Montjuic, including the Olympic Museum and arena for the 1992 Olympics, and the cable car up to Castell de Montjuic for some impressive views over the city. After this, we got the Port Vell Cable car across to Barceloneta Harbour (Mr Larvan was not a fan of the ride!). We then enjoyed a lovely meal on the harbourside before heading back to recharge ourselves for another busy day.

Day 3 started with a trip to Camp Nou, home of Barcelona FC, where we had a tour around their trophy room, stadium and sidelines.  From there, we headed to La Rambla, where the pupils were able to soak up the culture of one of the most famous streets in Europe. That evening, we had a movie night, watching some of the latest film releases (although pupils were pleased to hear the films were in English with Spanish subtitles!). This allowed us to mix up the schools, giving the pupils chance to get to know each other more.

Day 4 was Gaudí Day, exploring two of the most famous works of one of Spain’s most famous architects. First was a tour of the impressive Sagrada Familia, which is still unfinished 140 years after construction started. We were able to see the inside and outside of the church, marvelling at the detailed sculptures on the outside and the sunlight shining through the stained-glass windows on the inside, spreading fantastic colours through the interior. We even took a bit of time to make our own artwork, inspired by the building. We left the Sagrada Familia and after a lot of escalators, steps and hills made it to Parc Guell, where pupils were given time to explore this large fantasy-inspired park, before meeting at El Drac, a larger-than-life mosaic sculpture of a lizard. As we headed home that evening, we started to see the fireworks and bonfires being set up for the evening’s festivities, which took place all over Barcelona, including right outside our hostel, until the early hours of the morning.

After a late night, Friday started with a well-earned lie-in, before a trip to see the Barcelona aquarium and an afternoon spent relaxing on the beach, followed by another delicious meal in the harbourside.

Feeling refreshed, Saturday saw us heading to see some of the wildlife in the Barcelona Zoo, including tigers, rhinos and elephants. After a wild day, we headed back towards La Rambla for a spot of retail therapy, before heading up to see the views of the city from the Palau Nacional.

Sunday was the day that some of us had been looking forward to the most, a trip to Portaventura Theme Park, which is home to over 50 exhilarating rides, including Dragon Khan and Shambhala. After a fantastic day, we returned to Barcelona before a final evening meal together and then a morning flight (and run through the airport!) to head back home.

Every single one of the pupils represented themselves, the school and the Trust extremely well and we were so impressed by their manners, fantastic attitude and willingness to embrace new experiences, whether that was trying new food, travelling abroad or going on cable cars. We hope that we have instilled an interest in travelling and have opened the pupils’ minds to see more of the world.

Comments from parents:

“My son, has just returned from the Turing Tour to Spain and I just wanted to thank the school for this great opportunity. He has come home full of information about the places he has visited, the friends he has made, and it is so evident just how much he has enjoyed it. I also feel it has given him a confidence he did not have before”

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all the staff at the Turing Scheme for giving my son an amazing experience and for looking after him so well – you are amazing”

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Walsall Summer Holiday Activities

Welcome to our Summer Holiday Booklet which will provide you with information about the programme and activities we have on offer over the summer holiday 2022!

What is the Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) Programme?

HAF is a free and exciting holiday programme for children and young people aged 5 to 16 who are eligible for benefit related free school meals. The programme is running over Easter (1 week), summer (4 weeks) and Christmas (1 week) school holidays.

The Department of Education (DFE) has provided funding for the programme. The programme enables children to be active, to learn and to eat healthy foods and it is all FREE.


How do I know if my child is eligible?
Your child/ren will qualify if all these statements apply:
• Your child is eligible for benefit related free school meals or is a young carer or on a plan
• You live in Walsall
• Your child is between the ages 5-16yrs

How to register and book activities for the Programme?

Every eligible child will have received a letter from Walsall Council HAF programme providing them with
their unique code to register into the programme.

If you haven’t received a letter but you think your child is eligible, please email WR4C@walsall.gov.uk or call
our helpline. You will only need to register once for the HAF programme, which will provide you with access
to your account throughout the year.

Step 1: You will need your child’s unique code to register online (HAF Portal) using the following link: www.walsall.gov.uk/children_and_young_people/haf_signup

Step 2: Complete the HAF registration form with your child’s details

Step 3: Once you have registered you will receive a confirmation email

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Sports Day 2022

For this year’s Sports Days on Friday 24th June and Tuesday 28th June, children are asked to attend school in their PE kit. If you have a t-shirt in their house colour, children are welcome to wear this instead. You can find your child’s house on the list below, and the corresponding house colours are as follows.

Brindley – Blue

Stephenson – Green

Telford – Yellow

Watt – Red

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Turing Scheme 2022

Year 8 Pupils arrived in Fulda. They had a morning learning about the history of the town. Follow us on Social Media for further updates.


The Turing Scheme is the UK government’s programme to provide funding for international opportunities in education and training across the world. It supports Global Britain by providing an opportunity for UK organisations from the higher education, further education, vocational education and training and schools sectors to offer their students, learners and pupils life-changing experiences to study or work abroad.

On Sunday 19th June and Monday 20th June,  a group of Year 8 and Year 9 pupils will be boarding planes to Spain and Germany as part of the Turing Scheme international exchanges.  

Across Matrix Academy Trust, 100 pupils will have the chance to take part in two projects: one to Fulda, Germany and one to Barcelona, Spain. This opportunity is fully funded by the Turing Scheme, the UK’s scheme to encourage young people to travel overseas as part of their education. 

The pupils are very excited about their travels – follow our school social channels to keep up-to-date with what they’re up to. 

The itineraries for both projects are below – as you can see, both trips will be an action-packed week with the chance for pupils to fully immerse themselves in everything Germany and Spain have to offer. 

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Bloxwich Football Academy Trials

Enrolling onto the Bloxwich Academy Football Programme will allow students to complete their education whilst having the opportunity to play football at a competitive level.

Students will undertake a 2 Year, Level 3 Sport qualification either Extended Certificate (worth 1 A-Level) the Diploma (2 A-Levels) or the Extended Diploma (3 A-Levels). This will be decided dependant on the other subjects studied by the student.

Students will complete internal, external and synoptic units throughout the course which will be graded in line with the specification. 

Students will train everyday either on the football pitches, in the Fitness Suite or complete hydro sessions in the swimming pool. All sessions will be run by licensed FA coaches focusing on individual, unit and team performance within games. The team will play in the British Colleges League on a Wednesday afternoon travelling around the County including Stoke and Birmingham to fulfil fixtures.

Alongside their studies they will have opportunities to:

  • Watch matches throughout the year at Premier League grounds and Wembley.
  • A European football trip has been organised to run in 2023 which will incorporate training at professional grounds and 3 matches against overseas opponents.
  • Gain a recognised refereeing qualification.
  • Gain pathways to continue their education in England or opportunities to obtain Scholarships in the USA.
  • Attend trials for semi-professional clubs.

Bloxwich Football Academy Trials will take place on Saturday 25th June, for current Year 11 students who are starting Year 12 in September.

To register your interest, please email: jhamnett@bloxwichacademy.co.uk

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Platinum Jubilee

Today has been brilliant! The whole school have been in jubilant Jubilee spirit all day – the fun has not stopped. With the children decked out in red, white and blue and bunting adorning the corridors, the atmosphere has felt very patriotic as we celebrated Queen Elizabeth II’s 70 years on the throne.

The day started with a through school assembly in which every year group performed a popular UK hit from each decade that has passed since the Queen’s reign began. Songs included ‘We are the champions’ by Queen and ‘Reach’ by S Club 7. The School Choir also gave their first performance in front of an audience, belting out ‘Sing’ by Gary Barlow. They cannot wait to perform in front of parents, and we really hope to announce details of when this will be very soon.  Children have also been learning The National Anthem over the last few weeks in preparation for today’s events, and sang it together during the assembly; it was incredibly moving and they sang it beautifully.

At around 11am, parents of Nursery children came into school and joined their little ones on the field for a picnic and playtime. We have been so lucky with the weather today; sitting on the blankets, enjoying the fresh air and refreshing drinks. Children from Reception to Year 6 then enjoyed their own slice of al fresco dining as they skipped outside to enjoy a street party style banquet, sitting in rows in the sunshine amongst the bunting, banners and Union Jack flags. As you can see it was a sight to behold and the experience will stay in their memories for years to come. We will look back fondly on this afternoons celebrations.

This afternoon, the party atmosphere has continued back into the classrooms with children taking part in a number of Jubilee inspired activities. Year 3 have been making collages of Queen Elizabeth II, Year 6 have been designing a new royal stamp, and children through Keystage 1 and Early Years have been making their own crowns, fit for our own little kings and queens! Year 5 children have been taking on the role of newspaper journalists, writing reports about Queen Elizabeth II, while Year 4 children have been using red, white and blue icing to decorate cakes in patriotic style. It is fair to say that teachers and children alike have had an incredibly busy, but also extremely fun day.

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Platinum Jubilee – FOB

This morning, we spent time with Nursery children and parents as they enjoyed a picnic on the playing field, serving cake and squash in between the fun and games. We then made our way up to the Keystage 2 playground and helped out with their street party style lunch. It has been such a lovely occasion, and we wanted all the children to have a special memento to take away with them. Over the past few weeks, we have been busily creating the below commemorative Jubilee keyrings which we today handed out to every child. We hope that these will be a little gift from Friends of Bloxwich that will stay in their keepsake box forever, and hope they will look upon with fondness in years to come.

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Happy Easter

Happy Easter from all of us here at Friends of Bloxwich!

Today has been fabulous! We have spent the morning hopping around from class to class, delivering chocolate eggs to all the children at Bloxwich Academy Primary. As you can see from the pictures, we had a fantastic reception from the children who were really excited to see the Easter Bunny and helpers; we can’t tell you how much we love seeing the children smile!

We have also had an incredible response to our ‘Guess the Eggs’ competition and the chocolate hamper raffle. Overall, our Easter activities have raised over £340.00 which will go towards future events for the children. We could not organise these fun, memorable experiences for the pupils at Bloxwich Academy Primary without your support, so a massive thank you needs to go out to parents.

We hope you all have a fantastic Easter break and we look forward to sharing or plans for the summer term with you very soon!

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Well Done Year 2!

Year 2 have had a brilliant couple of weeks. The children have been working very hard on their reading skills and it has been a pleasure for us to see them improving so much.

As the final week of the half term has arrived, the children have been completing their newest writing unit – persuasive postcards. We have used the book, Meerkat Mail, as an inspiration for this unit and the children have impressed us greatly with their creativity. This week, the children have written their own postcard persuading the reader to visit Bloxwich Academy.

Mrs Watkins’ maths group have been learning all about fractions in their mathematics, Miss Azad’s maths group have been finishing off their place value to 100 unit and Mrs Gandhi’s maths group have been looking at their addition and subtraction unit. Well done to all the children for their effort and hard work this week.

We have been coming to the end of a couple foundation subject units and have been having lots of fun being creative with their final projects. In R.E., we have been learning about Losar (a New Year’s tradition for Tibetan Buddhists). We have completed this project this week by having our own, small New Year’s class party and working together to create our own cham dance. The children and teachers really enjoyed this! The children created flower sculptures at the end of their Art project, using paper plates and felt tips to mimic the sculptural designs of Yayoi Kusama.

Well done on yet another fantastic half term, Year 2! Have a safe and happy Easter holidays. We look forward to welcoming you back to school next term!

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World Autism Acceptance Week

Pupils at Bloxwich Academy are working on ‘Autism Acceptance 2022’ in form time every day this week. Topics include ‘What is autism?’ and making pupils and staff more autism aware; through animation, a question and answer session and a quiz.

Pupils will learn about how they can help society a better place for people with autism, both within Bloxwich academy and the wider world. We strive to be an inclusive school and teach the importance of celebrating difference and understanding so we can become great citizens of the next generation.

You can read more about Autism Acceptance Week HERE.

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Contact Info

Secondary School
Leamore Lane
Bloxwich, Walsall
West Midlands
WS2 7NR

T: 01922 710 257
postbox@bloxwichacademy.co.uk

Secondary SENDCo – Mrs Bensley

Monday - Thursday: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Friday: 8:00 am - 3:30 pm

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